Amazon advertising sales edge close to $8 billion

Amazon’s advertising business grew 83% year-over-year in the second quarter, generating close to $8 billion in ad sales, the company reported in its latest financial results on Thursday. Amazon announced earnings that included the advertising side of its e-commerce empire, while total retail sales reached $113 billion, an increase of 27% year-over-year. Amazon Web Services, the cloud computing product, showed strong growth, too, reaching $14.8 billion in revenue, a 37% year-over-year increase. However, Amazon’s sales revenue was lower than analysts expected. Forecasters predicted revenue would be closer to $115 billion. Some took that as a sign that Amazon faces stiffer competition for online wallets from Walmart, Target and others. Also, more people have started to shop in stores as COVID-19 restrictions eased in recent months. Meanwhile, Amazon also held Prime Day, its namesake shopping bonanza, in the second quarter. The company said that third-party sellers generated $1.9 billion in sales in the 10 days leading up to Prime Day, which was double the sales from the prior year. Amazon offered some insights into the advertising side of the business and how it is evolving. “Amazon Advertising launched over 40 new features and self-service capabilities, making it easier for sellers, companies and authors to grow their businesses by helping customers discover their brands and products,” Amazon said in its earnings release. “Recent launches include regional sponsored product campaign creation tools; access to educational, technical, and marketing resources via the Partner Network; and a simplified creative asset management solution.” Amazon is a growing force in online advertising, as brands and small businesses are using digital ad tools to promote stores on Amazon, while also driving sales to those stores from websites outside of Amazon. There also is a growing video advertising segment of the business with Fire TV, IMDb TV and Twitch, the gaming and streaming video site. Amazon noted that it reaches 120 million monthly viewers on Amazon streaming TV and Twitch properties. Amazon also highlighted the fact that it secured a deal with the National Football League to exclusively stream Thursday Night Football games starting in 2022.

Amazon advertising sales edge close to $8 billion

Featured Stories